Blending machine



Aug. 28, 1951 G. c. TRUSLOW ET AL 2,565,637

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MT ka attotnegs Patentd Aug. 28, 1951 BLENDING MACHINE Grover C; Truslow and William M. Truslow, Leaksville, N; C;

Application November 26, 19i6,SerialNc. #12,428

2 Claims.

This. invention has for its' object to. provide an apparatus for mixing and blending various materials which aresubstantially in a. dry state whereby an even distribution of two or moresubstances may be attained.

Our invention also has for its object. to provide an apparatus adapted especially for use in handling various kinds of staple fibers such as Wool, or cotton, mineral fibers, tobacco, feathers and like substances so that the final mixture to be employed in the manufacture of various types of goods will be an even distribution or blending of the difierent grades, weights, colors etc. of those products which are necessarly premixed in their' original or natural states.

In a machine for the above described, purpose our invention further comprehends a rotating head having a rotating discharge nozzle thereon and. means for driving said elements in circular paths.: at appropriate relative speeds for the purnose. of more efiiciently distributing the sub.- stances in the so-called bedding room., also known as the gauze room.

Furthermore our invention also has, for its object, to provide. in connection with such blending machine suitable means for theapplication. to: the fibers a, spray of any desired fluid, such as oil for conditioning wool. fibers preparatory to their passing to a carding machine. or a spray of` water for dry stocks requiring the additions of moisture before. being further processed, or the application of. a. dye to produce a desired background. color in stocks which. are colored unevenly Also there may be applied to. fibers suitable chemicals such as, used in the production of, yarns used in, the weaving of water repellant fabrics..

To these andother ends our invention comprehends, further improvements. in. the arrangement of parts of a mixing and blendirg machine all as will. be fully described in the. accompanying specication, the novel features ther-.cof being set forth in the appended claims.

In. the drawings:

Figure l is a view showing in elevation. a blendng machine. constructed. in. accordance with our invention in which the material to. be. mixed. is fed to the rotating heads from a point. below them.

Figure 2 is a similar view in which the fibrous material'is introduced into the heads from a point above and the spray nozzles are fed from a point below them.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which the revolving heads cross and re-cross continuously during the. operation of the machine.

Figure 4 is also a diagrammatic View illustrating; the manner in which the discharge; nozzle may be caused to rotate to effect distribution: of material into the corners of a room.

Figure 5. is a detail View illustrating, the ad- ,justable mounting for the defiector.

In, carrying out our invention` we.- employ a supply pipe.: or Conduit. of ample cross sectionalarea through which fibrous; material traverses under air pressure to a laterally disposed revolving head or arm carrying a blencling head or discharge nozzle in the form of a. second latera-lly revolving arm said arms rotating in unison, to produce a gyratory efiect whereby the discharge nozzle. travels in a spiral path with` referenceto the inlet or discharge end of the supply pipe for the. purpose of distributing the substances over a wide path and causing them to become thoroughly blended.

This apparatus is mounted in. a bedding room which is otherwise known as the gauze room, which as shown in section in Figs. 1 and. 2 comprises a floor I., side walls, and a ceiling 2( In these figures the supply pipe 3 is shown inthe former entering from one side and in the latter as entering from the top being centrally disposed in the room in each instance InFig. 1 the: supply pipe is supported on a, frame 4. and ispros vided. with an elbow 5. at its inner end surrounded by a horizont-al bearing comprising a lower sta.` tionary ring 6, supported, by the frame 4, and carrying a movable ring 'l. Alined with the el.- bow 5 is, the limb- 8. oi a rotatable. head supported on. the hearing ring 1.. This limb is provided with a bevel gear 94 and meshing therewith is a. heveL pinionl-O on a shaft H the outer end of which extends exteriorly of the gauze room. and may be rotated continuously from any convenient source, of power, as will be understood. i

The rotatable:` head also comprises a laterally extending arm |.5 to which is strapped a framework IG carrying a weight H for counterbalancing the arm. and' the parts carried thereon At' the outer end of arm 1:5 is an upwardly extending, elbow !8` carrying a horizontal hearing composed of, a ring !9 which. is. fixed to said elbow and an upperrevoluble. ring 20 which supportsthe distributing, head. The latter also comprises. a vertical pipe leg ZI, a laterally extend-ing arm 22 and an upwardly extending discharge end or nozzle represented by the elbow 22 the open end of which faces the ceiling 2 of the gauze room and is in proximity thereto. principally for the purpose. of. gaining sufcient height to increase the distribution of substances as they gravitate toward the floor- I. This distribution 'is also aided by suspending at. a short distance above the open end of the nozzle a cone shaped deflector 23 pivotally carried at the outer end of anarm 24 to which it is adjustably locked by a thumb nut 25 and as arm 24 is also adjustable vertically and secured. at; the points shown by lock screws 26 and 21-, as shown in Fig. 5, the cone may be elevated. and inclined with reference to the discharge nozzle as may be desired tobest defiect the substances which impinge, against it by reason: of the air' stream in which they are circulated.

The rotating nozzle head is counterbalanced by a weight 28 carried in a frame 29 attached to the arm of the nozzle. The latter is constantly rotated by a motor 30 the armature of which carries a bevel pinion 35 meshing with a gear ring 36 attached to the nozzle leg 2 l.

Counterparts of the aforedescribed features are shown in Fig. 2 but since in this arrangement the supply pipe 3 enters the gauze room vertically the bearing 31 for the rotating head 33 is mounted above it and'the head is carried by a frame 39 mounted on a table 40 on the upper end of a vertical shaft 'a'l rotatably supported on a pedestal 42. This shaft is driven by a pair of bevel gears 43 one of which is rotated by a sha-ft 43 corresponding t shaft ii shown in Fig. 1. In this illustration we have also shown another means for rotating the blending head ;t comprising two pairs of bevel gears and one element of each of which is connected respectively to the inlet pipe 3 and the vertical leg of the nozzle while the other'elements are fixed to a horizontal shaft 47.

In both of the arrangenents shown in Figs. 1 and 2 it will be seen that by varying the relative speeds of rotation of the two heads the mixing and blending of the substances introduced through the feed pipes and emitted from the discharge nozzl s may be accurately controlled. If their rotation is not at equal speeds the distributing head will follow the path depicted in Fig. 3. On the other hand, and this we consider to be an important feature of our invention, if the speed of rotation of the two heads is properly timed so that their speeds are even the distributing nozzle can be timed to Swing outwardly to move its discharge end in each corner of the gauze room successively as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 4. There is a special advantage accomplished by this timing of the movements of the parts as it not only distributes the materials over a wider area of the gauze room floor but increases the Capacity of the room by filling in its corners.

Another important feature of our invention resides in the humidifier which we employ in conjunction With the abov described apparatus, said term being used in its broad sense to include the distribution of any liquid. In the handling of wool stocks certain advantages are t be obtained in their subsequent handling if these are oiled before they are processed and upon their introduction to the gauze room. Likewise where previous dyed fibers of a giv-en base color in different shades are being blended and it is desired to render them as a given shade the best effect can be obtained by dying the fibers during the process of distribution and blending. Again so-called bone dry fibers may be more easily handled if they are first moistened. Another example is that of impregnating with liquid chemicals the fiber stock in the open stage which it assumes during the blending operation especially where such fibers are to be made into yarn for the weaving of Waterproof fabrics since by so doing the fibers may be so successfully treated that there results but little, if any loss in the washing or scouring Operations to which the textile is subjected in the finishing process.

These advantages we obtain by mounting on the underside of the rotary head a series of nozzles 50 capable of discharging an appropriate fluid in the form of a cloud mist. such are connected to a pressure pip l' carried in stirrups 4 52 on the frames IS and 39 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively. The pipe 51 is connected by means of a distributor gland coupling 52 to a source of pressure supply such as the pipe 53 leading to a distant point exterior of the ganze room.

Electrical connections between motor 30 and a sourc of electrical power may be accomplished in any conventional manner desired. For the purpose of illustration we have shown in Figure 1 of the drawings a line following supply pipe 53 into the chamber. Since there is relative motion between the stationary supply pipe and the revolving head of the mechanism it is necessary to employ the use of current transfer brushes which ar well known in the art. These brushes are of course insulated from the supporting fiuid supply pipes and comprise an upper stationary plate and a lower plate, the latter being mounted for rotaton with the head. Current from the lower plate brush is transferred by an electrical Wire to the drive motor 30, which is in turn grounded to discharge pipe 5| as shown.

It is of course to be understood that while we have illustrated certain preferred embodiments of our invention various changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for blending and fluid' treating fibrous material the combination with a rectangular gauze room having a ceiling and floor, of a blending machine comprising a conduit for the circulation therethrough under air' pressure of material to be blended, said Conduit having an arm portion rotating about a vertical aXis disposed centrally of the room, a framework carried by said arm, a blending head journaled on said arm and extending upwardly therefrom and having a discharge end near the ceiling, means for rotating both arm and head in timed relation to Swing the discharge end successively outwardly toward and into the corners of said room, fluid pressure discharge nozzles carried by said framework and located intermediate the plane of discharge of the blended material and the room floor to act upon the material as it gravitates.

2. An apparatus as specified in claim 1, in which said discharge nozzles are connected to a substantially horizontal pipe carried by and rotatable with said framework, a vertically disposed extension on one end of said pipe, a pressure supply line leading to the exterior of the gauze room and having a vertical portion thereof alined with said extension, andmeans connecting said Vertical portion and extension permittng rotation of the pipe with the rotating arm of the blending machine.

GROVER C. TRUSLOW. WILLIAM M. TRUSLOW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 929,092 Kelly July 27, 1909 1,399,590 Truslow Dec. 6, 1921 1,514A84 Truslow Nov. 4, 1924 1,688,524 Cobb Nov. 23, 1928 2,459,924 Culhane et al. Jan. 25, 1949 

